Pages

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Short Dose of Honesty

The Republican Party has focused heaps of attention the past decade (and then some) on restricting the ability of people to vote. Citing the chimera (that is, the illusory threat) of voter fraud, the GOP and its minions have tried to kick people off the rolls. Today, the issue is whether to allow people in line to vote when the polls are supposed to close in Wisconsin. The obvious answer, if you support democracy and freedom, is this: let people vote.

But if you consistently try to prevent people from voting, that says much about the nature of your party regardless of whatever justifications one presents. It means that any stance on freedom is, well, bullshit since there is no more basic freedom than the right to vote. In the past, the courts always erred on the side of freedom. Where are they now? I don't know.

The Republicans can talk about voter fraud all they want, but there has been no systematic evidence of abuse of voting, except if one includes elected officials denying voters the ability to vote because they might vote for the Democrats.

So, when you hear voter fraud, you should think: the apparent threat is a fraud and those citing it are frauds. Those who raise the threat are con artists trying to deny people the most basic of rights. Can I say it any plainer than that?

No comments:

Stephen M. Saideman

Intro

Greetings! I am a political scientist, specializing in International Relations, my research and teaching focus on ethnic conflict and civil-military relations. I watch way too much TV, and I like movies as well so I tend to write about both and find IR stuff in pop culture. I rant alot about American politics and sometimes about Canadian politics. I like to take ideas I once learned a long time ago and apply them to whatever strikes my fancy.